Rose McGowan Laces Into Oprah Winfrey Over Harvey Weinstein: 'Fake As They Come'

Rose McGowan attacked Oprah Winfrey in a tweet, lambasting the legendary media mogul for being “as fake as they come” alongside an image of Winfrey and disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein.

The actor shared a snapshot of Winfrey giving Weinstein a kiss, taken at the 2014 Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, with the caption: “I am glad more are seeing the ugly truth of @Oprah. I wish she were real, but she isn’t.”

McGowan’s Sunday tweet further slams Winfrey for “being pals with Weinstein” and for “abandoning & destroying Russell Simmon’s victims.” That’s a likely reference to Winfrey stepping away from a documentary in early 2020 that centered on a former music executive who accused Simmons, founder of the hip hop Def Jam label, of sexual misconduct.

Neither Winfrey nor McGowan immediately responded to HuffPost’s requests for comment.

Before McGowan’s tweet, Winfrey had been trending on Twitter with chatter about an old interview with Dolly Parton. The clips of Winfrey asking Parton about plastic surgery prompted complaints from many fans of Parton, with some mentioning Winfrey’s history with Weinstein.

Winfrey told Gwyneth Paltrow in 2018 on an episode of the Goop podcast that she knew Weinstein was “a bully,” but was “friendly” with him anyway. 

“Of course, I didn’t know any of this was going on,” Winfrey said of the dozens of sexual misconduct and rape allegations against Weinstein at the time. “I think where this movement will eventually lead us to is not accepting any kind of behavior that disparages you as a human being. Why am I willing to put up with an asshole? Not only am I not going to take your sexual harassment, I’m not going to take any of your bullshit, period.”

More than 90 women have now accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct or assault. He claims it was all consensual. He faces 23 years in prison for a rape conviction in New York and awaits another trial in Los Angeles.